Rapid
growth in data intensive appilications continues to fuel the demand for raw data
storage capacity .Applications such as data warehousing, data mining, online trasaction
processing and multimedia internet internet browsing have led to a near doubling
of the total storage capacity being shipped globally on an annual basis. And analysts
predict that the numbers of network connections for server-storage subsystems
will exceed the number of client connections are further fuelling the demand for
network storage. Limitations loom over surge
of data. With the rise of client networking, data centric computing applications,
virtually all Networked-stored data has become mission critical in nature. This
increasing reliance on the access to enterprise data is challenging the limitations
of traditional server storage solutions. As a result, the on going need to add
more storage, service more users and backup more data has become a monumental
task. Having endured for nearly two decades , parallel Small Computer System Interface
(SCSI) Bus that has facilitated server-storage connectivity for Local Area Network
(LAN) servers , is imposing server limitations on network storage.

Compounding
these limitations is the traditional use of LAN connections for server storage
backup , which detracts from usable client bandwidth . To contend with these limitations
, network managers are often force to compromise on critical aspects of system
availability , reliability and efficiency . To address the debilitating and potentially
costly effects of these constraints , an infrastructure for server-storage connectivity
, which can support current and future demands is badly needed..The
Storage Area Network (SAN) is an emerging data communication platform , which
interconnects servers and storage at giga baud speeds. By combining LAN networking
with core building blocks of server performance and mass storage capacity, SAN
eliminates the bandwidth bottlenecks and scalability limitations imposed by previous
SCSI bus-based architectures.In addition to the
fundamental connectivity benefits of SAN , the new capabilities , facilitated
by its networking approach , enhance its value as a long term infrastructure.
These capabilities, which include compute clustering, topological flexibility,
fault tolerance, high availability, and remote management, further elevate SAN's
ability to address the growing challenges of data intensive, mission-critical
applications.